Phasing that leaves you happy?

October 17, 2009 12:44 AM

Modern Minimalist Orchestral Music Filter: Could you help me find music similar in mood and sound to a particular piece by Yoko Kanno? "Twinkle" on the Macross Frontier O.S.T.1 is beautiful and I want more!

I'm a fan of Steve Reich and phasing already, but "Twinkle" has a sort of gentler, uplifting feel that I absolutely adore. Last time I tried Pandora, it wasn't so great with classical music, and I don't have any friends who share my taste. So I turn to you, dear Metafilter!

Ulterior motive: I'm about to embark on my first NaNoWriMo, but before that I have about 16 hours of airplane ride to deal with. So I'm looking for many, many hours of music, if possible, with no English lyrics, although other languages would be okay, as long as it isn't too distracting from the process of writing. Hopefully I can compose some epic uplifting and mellow playlists to carry me to and from my stressful destination, and then inspire me to keep writing.

Other than almost anything Yoko Kanno touches, I'm a fan of Ravel, Elvis Costello, Sondre Lerche, E.L.O., April March, Anamanaguchi, Kool & the Gang, Jon Brion, Justice, Frou Frou, and what snobby eclectic girl would be happy without Bjork? I have an extreme soft spot for string instruments and piano. If any of that helps you, I thank you. I'm open to practically anything, if it has the same mood as "Twinkle", or pairs well with it, or is a logical next step.

Thank you in advance!

posted by Mizu to media & arts (12 comments total)

well, not to be pretentious or anything, but "Twinkle" is a far cry in quality and musical interest from Steve Reich...but...

You might want to check out the following who have *somewhat* similar styles - and I'll try to order them by what I think most closely fits your request...and sorry, I'm going to leave it up to your google-fu to find these (feel free to MeMail me if you have trouble tracking them down)...

- David Lang, especially "Child." (and for that matter check out Julia Wolfe and Michael Gordon - husband and wife - and really the whole gang of Bang on a Can).
- Another composer that comes immediately to mind is Thomas Newman, especially the American Beauty soundtrack. It's a little cheesy, but then again it is a film score, and as far as film scores go, I think it's pretty damn ok.
- John Tavener. He's a whacko Christian who wears a cross necklace and tries to look sort of like an elderly Jesus, but his music is great. Of course I recommend "The Protecting Veil" - especially the YoYo Ma recording, as a great starting point.
- Gorecki - start with Symphony #3, the Dawn Upshaw recording is great.
- Arvo Part - not quite as cute as you might be looking for, but arguably the greatest Estonian composer of our time and certainly one of the most brilliant minimalist composers. I cannot recommend almost every version of Fratres enough - my favorite being the arrangement for violin and piano.
- Brian Eno. I'll leave you to work out that one.
- I assume you've already explored Philip Glass. Personally I'm not so keen on most of his music, but check him out, especially the early stuff (it's better, in my opinion) like Glassworks.
- John Adams. He gets a bad rap these days amongst the long haired crowd, but I still think he's pretty damn good. I recommend Shaker Loops and Lollapalooza.
- You might like Terry Riley. A good place to start obvs is the seminal "In C." There are lots of great recordings, but I recommend the Bang on a Can take.
- Check out all of the projects of Carla Kilhstedt. She fucking rules. She's the violinist of Two Foot Yard, Tin Hat Trio and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum.
- Morton Feldman might be a bit far from what you're wanting, but he is one of my favorite composers, and I can't recommend him enough.
- Annie Gosfield may interest you. She came up at a recent meet-up and I think she is just spectacular, but it might be a little...er...downtown (do people still use that term???) than you're looking for.
- Not minimalist, in fact he would despise being put in the same category, but I love love love the music of Lee Hyla - especially his record "We Speak Etruscan."
- You say you're familiar with Steve Reich...are you familiar with ALL of Steve Reich? The dude i fucking prolific, and most of my favorite pieces of his are not his most popular. Music for 18 and Different Trains are of course incredible, but seriously, things like Electric Counterpoint and New York Counterpoint are just fucking bloody hell amazing.
- Gar gar gar - if you're a fan of ELO, Costello and Brion, Sujan Stevens has some Reich rip-off stuff you might be into.
- And lastly, I would be remiss - and lo! what an opportunity - if I did not recommend a certain Witold Lutoslawski, father of aleatoric counterpoint. He rules. Really fucking rules.
posted by Lutoslawski at 2:16 AM on October 17 [2 favorites]

Oh, and if it's endless hours of awesome minimalism you're looking for - and I know you mentioned him - but I cannot recommend strongly enough the box set of Steve Reich works (takes you right up to Three Tales). It's about $100 (when I bought it many years ago) but it is well, well, well worth it. It has gotten me through many a cross country car trip, and I can only assume it will fair just as well on a plane, if not better.
posted by Lutoslawski at 2:23 AM on October 17

Maybe Sigur Ros or Detektivbyrån?
posted by various at 2:29 AM on October 17

Sorry to comment 3 times in a row, but it's late and no one else is weighing in. I wanted to briefly address this:

I'm a fan of Steve Reich and phasing already

"Twinkle" is not phasing. Phasing, which was arguably developed by Reich, is a specific compositional process which involves, essentially, two (or more, as in Reich's early "It's Gonna Rain") voices slowly separating from one another rhythmically (very simplified version). Most of Reich's works are not examples of phasing, but of just his particular style of minimalism. which developed from his early exploration of phasing. Reich is a philosopher at heart, and his early works (It's Gonna Rain, Come out to Show Them) are so much conceptual and mathematic in their "phase process" than, say, something like 3 tales (which is still badass, but it isn't phasing).

As a personal anecdote, when I was in marching band in high school, phasing was something we were incredibly skilled at, though in our case it was not encouraged as an interesting avant compositional tool. Nay, we phased because the left side of the football field (the brass section...ahem...) never could manage to play in correct time with the rest of the band to Tower of Power's "What is Hip?" If only marching band were influenced slightly more by the 70's....
posted by Lutoslawski at 2:38 AM on October 17

Try:

Stars of the Lid
Rachel's
Hauschka
posted by querty at 2:50 AM on October 17

Lutoslawski, sorry that my punctuation was off. I know both that "Twinkle" is not phasing and that the majority of Reich's work isn't phasing. I meant to say I'm a fan of Steve Reich, and phasing, already, so as to head off people who would come in to suggest I google "phasing" or Reich and get to know the more complex and probably more sophisticated and tasteful steps away from what "Twinkle" is. Because, to my ear, they are all close enough that if someone I knew liked one, I would suggest the others.

But in particular I'm not looking for that right now, because while I derive a certain amount of comfort from the sort of mathematical and philosophical sounds, it doesn't leave me with the same effervescent mood. I know that, as you say, "Twinkle" is a far cry in "quality" but it pings the same spots in my musical experience as Reich, but leaves me far happier. That's the key.

Sufjan Stevens does have Reich rip-off stuff that I enjoy, along with his absurdly long song titles, but it always leaves me with that same heavy, plodding mood. It feels slow, like I'm slogging through mud with my ears. And this can be brilliant sometimes, but when I'm writing and trying to distract myself from extremely stressful trips to the family, mud-slogging isn't what's going to keep me productive and uplifted.

Thanks for all of your suggestions so far though. When I get the chance I'll google around. I'm not the one in my family with the musical education (that's my brother, mister president of the CMU orchestra, sending me ripped mp3s of Glassworks over our 56k connection in 1999) so while I have snippets of sophistication on my more classy days, I don't have much immediate knowledge of classics or standards.
posted by Mizu at 3:02 AM on October 17

Mizu-

Yeah, sorry, I wasn't trying to be asshole. Sorry if I came across that way. I'm just really into this sort of music, and was only trying to clarify.

But yeah, totally check out the composer I recommended. I think you'll find a lot of their works rather beautiful and dare I say moving? No, really. Tavener, Gorecki, Part - I'm not afraid of being a, um, 'sensitive avant garde composer???' and I am genuinely moved by these composers, really.

Do check them out. I wasn't trying to undermine you, just trying to clarify. "Happy" at least for me, is a strange and elusive emotion in music I cannot claim to have a handle on. But I think some of the composer I mentioned you'll really like.

Eh, if it sounds good, it is good. Words to live by.
posted by Lutoslawski at 3:43 AM on October 17

You'd probably dig Wim Mertens.
posted by neroli at 7:03 AM on October 17

Amiina
Stars of the Lid
Rameses III
Sylvain Chauveau
Terry Riley
Max Richter
Philip Glass
Michael Nyman
So Percussion
Wim Mertens
Jacaszek
Rachel's
Clogs
Iannis Xenakis
Edo De Waart
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 7:09 AM on October 17

Thinking about mood rather than genre, I would recommend Arja Kastinen, a Finnish kantele player. Some of the best writing music I know.
posted by neroli at 7:12 AM on October 17

Kentaro Sato.
posted by aquafortis at 8:08 AM on October 17

I listened to "Twinkle" and it vaguely reminded me of Margaret Leng Tan's album of piano music by Satoh Somei, Litania.
posted by No-sword at 5:09 PM on October 17